I found this report from Synovate Media for Vendare’s Traffic Marketplace a bit strange. I don’t really disagree with the results much, it makes sense to me that contextual ads get more clicks than ads targeted by behavior, geography, or demographics. However, it appears that they asked consumers what type of ad they’d respond to.
How is that really a good study? Shouldn’t the study compare what people actually DO respond to, instead of just asking them? Imagine if you asked someone what they’d do if someone was hurt and saving their life meant they’d die. I bet a lot of people you’d ask would say they would save the other person’s life. However, if they were really in that situation, I would think many more people would turn to self-preservation in reality.
Usability experts are well-versed in understanding that what users say and what they do can be very, very different.